Meet brandon norwood, a community-driven leader & founder of delaware fashion alliance (dfa); a multi-faceted, non-profit organization helping to build a strong foundation for members of the fashion industry. on saturday may 25th, brandon & his team hosted dfa’s inaugaral live shoot mixer at the chris white gallery, located in the heart of wilmington. the event was an invite-only, white themed affair which gathered designers, entrepreneurs, investors, & leaders of the community with the intention of bringing those who want to make a difference in our society together to plan better ways of collaboration. starting off with a backround in photography, brandon would go to local fashion events for free & shoot as much content as possible. keeping his head low and patiently building experience in the industry, he worked his way up to shooting paid gigs and eventually became the in-house photographer for a fashion company in new york. once he built his confidence & wisdom he began putting together his own fashion shows where he was able to start really making a name for himself & provide a place of value for his hometown. a major focal point in his vision is providing something beneficial for the community so that more individuals are enabled to come together & collaborate. dfa’s motto being “your growth, our satisfaction” illustrates the principal of providing value for others & building connection. when you look at other cities like new york or baltimore, the one thing you notice is their sense of unity.

brandon addresses the ‘crab in the barrel’ mentality that a lot of people in the area describe delaware to have. he feels that although some people can just be “haters”, the real reason for the lack of support is that a lot creators neglect to provide actual value. Most people are just focused on making the money & don’t really take the time to cultivate their brand to be able to connect with their audience. “the thing that i think it takes in delaware, is somebody like a delaware fashion alliance be the middleground to take the responsibility on to create a platform on a scale of excellence…” brandon says. but in order to establish a product or service where people will actually want to support you, you must first figure out how you will provide value for others. “we don’t often times in the process of creating that thing consider how will somebody else be part of this, that incentivizes them to want to come be a part of it without me having to really ask them”. When you think about fashion you may only consider the models & designers, but the production of a showcase requires a lot more. Dfa provides a platform for all the different avenues needed to create a legendary experience. this includes hair stylists, makeup artists, photographers, wardrobe stylists, content creators, & more. With so many moving pieces in the world of fashion, it is almost essential that there is a central meeting point where movers, shakers, and innovators can come together & build. the mission isn’t just to make money, but build a community. you can expect future endeavors of delaware fashion alliance to include opportunities such as professional development, mentorship, classes, & OTHER AVENUES OF GROWTH FOR THE TRI-STATE CREATIVE.

why do communities matter?

whether it’s through sports teams, local concerts/events, or certain signature industries, most other cities have key platforms that bring the population together. when people have a sense of belonging they develop a sense of pride in the place they’re from. this opens the door to be able to gain support from consumers who simply just enjoy seeing people do productive things in the community. as humans, we seek unity. regardless of where it comes from everyone enjoys to be part of something bigger than themselves. previously in wilmington, we’ve seen more reasons to choose a side than we’ve seen for reasons to come together. communities are seperated, businesses in ideal parts of town like the riverfont & market street are being shut down or rejected from running operations due to serving a certain demographic that politicians deem unavorable, even our education system seperates us. new castle county is only 426 square miles of land & has a total of 119 schools with a majority of schools being located in wilmington. to put this in perspective, kent county being 798 square miles has only 51 schools, & sussex county being 936 square miles has only 45 total schools in their communities (k-12) — rodelde.org. so the southern counties that double in size have about 50% less schools in the area. thats 50% more human interraction & reasons to find common ground than northern delaware communities. Now more than ever our city needs reasons to come together & build. when people have more places to come together and find like-minded individuals, the support and sense of community is a natural byproduct.

the mission for brandon is simple. create value for others & empower the community to do the same for even more people. with upcoming delaware brands like socially wasted, love forever apparel, joyride denim, carry my own weight, and plenty of others, we are seeing a boom in the wilmington fashion scene. not only are these brands homegrown right out of wilmington, but they are beginning to operate on an “industry level” which sets a standard of quality that is beyond a large number of similar brands on the east coast. with all these brands excelling so quickly, it won’t be long before the necessity of structure & organization is imminent. the need to develop a system that allows generations of entrepreneurs to capitalize off the excitement of fashion as a whole will become far more necessary than the idea of a bunch of brands that are only competing for notoriety. we must elevate to the next level of business, which is collaboration. dfa is on a mission is to create a foundational cornerstone for fashion proffessionals to connect with fans & supporters in a more organic way. this means designers in delaware now have a reliable resource to boost promotion, branding, public relation, & general support. “the only way to live a meaningful life is to make life meaningul for others” is a mantra brandon lives by & dfa is a testament to that. we look forward to what’s in store next for this wilmington non-profit organization as we head into the start of summer 2024'. they can be found via their website, www.defashionalliance.org or on instagram @de.fashion.alliance.

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